Ramblings about hand and machine knitting, with a bit of sewing, canning and home remodelling thrown in!

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Sock it to me!!!

I love wearing wool socks. Luckily, I love to knit wool socks!

I usually knit socks on my Passap knitting machine, it does a great job, it goes really fast and they're just as cute and cuddly as hand knit socks. The problem is that I can't put the knitting machine in my knitting bag when I go out and about...

So, I usually have fair isle mittens or hats (or another small and portable knit) in my bag for those inevitable times when I knit somewhere else than home.

And, even at home, I sometimes feel like hand knitting very simple socks, just for the pleasure of a little mindless knitting in front of the TV!

I started making large socks in Kroy to fit the very large feet of my very tall son. I made a heel flap for a change. ;-)

I have a nagging feeling that they might be a bit too large... My normal sized feet are floating in them! I really have to ask my son to measure his feet... I can't believe they're that huge!!!

Knitting brown socks during a long hard winter isn't good for moral, so I've also knit colourful cheery socks while watching the Olympic games. I almost only hand knit self striping yarn because I love to see the colours change, plus it's a lot more fun!

The green sock (the other one is in progress) and the pink & blue ones are in Step. The blue socks are knit with Drops Fabel.

Don't you love it when the stripes are a perfect match! These socks are in Smile Opal. I love that yarn!!!

I've been trying different ways of turning heels. Above is the after thought heel.

O.K. I have to come clean about something: I don't like knitting with 4 double pointed needles! I find it cumbersome. I've tried, I swear I have. I love the nostalgia, the feeling of knitting socks the same way my grandmother did, but I just don't find it pleasurable or comfortable... What I prefer is doing it with 2 short circular needles. No more sharp pain as a needle pokes me repeatedly, no more dropped stitches when I have to quickly shove the sock in my knitting bag, no more lost needles in the sofa cushions and (for me) a quicker knit all around.

Since I'm coming clean, let me also admit that, try as I might, I cannot knit in the dark or without looking at what I'm doing every few stitches. I know, after so many years I should be able to manage it, well I simply can't. I first tried years ago while reading Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac in which she said anyone could do it... After many unsuccessful attempts, which made me feel like a complete failure, I gave up and went on happily knitting with the lights on. Then, one fateful day, knitting bloggers appeared on my computer. I was, once again, faced with my shortcomings. Blogger after blogger commented about knitting at the movies!!!!! What!!!! How on earth can they knit in the dark without splitting the yarn, dropping stitches and generally messing things up??? There's a Youtube video of the Yarn Harlot knitting a sock on double pointed needles while giving an interview. She never looks at her sock!!! To paraphrase Wayne and Garth, "I'm not worthy"... I'm sooooo not worthy...

3 comments:

Oh , what gorgeous drawer-full of socks !!! Lucky you to have them all to cuddle up wth. Oh , hey and I don't like DPNS either, I am a tried and true 2-circ-needle sock-knitter, glove-knitter, and anything which requires dpns.